The Science of Social Media: When to Post for Maximum Engagement

If you’ve been following our blog, you already understand the importance of staying active on social media by posting regularly. Social media is one of the best ways to really amplify your brand and share all the great content you’ve been working so hard to create. And there is a science to social media.

But just because you’re posting to social media on a regular basis, doesn’t necessarily mean you’re raking in all the benefits.

The most successful social media managers don’t just post great content, they post it at the right times so that they’ll receive maximum user engagement.

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To Post Now or to Post Later – That Is the Question!

So how do you know if you’re posting on the right day or the best time?

The answer is complex and depends on a variety of factors including your industry as well as your specific audience.

Luckily, we’ve already gone through the research from some of today’s top social media marketing experts and put all that data into an easy-to-use infographic that will help you know when to post for the most traffic and engagement.

Best Time to Post on Facebook

In general, Facebook users seem to schedule their FB time around their work schedule. Many will check their Facebook during lunchtime or other afternoon breaks.

Peak times for user engagement are from 1PM-4PM. You are more likely to see the most clicks around 1PM and the most shares between 3PM-4PM.

Engagement tends to increase throughout the week with Wednesdays and Thursdays being the best days to post for more likes, shares, or comments.

This social platform boasts 2.23 billion monthly active users with 1.47 billion of those users logging in daily. Facebook Messenger holds the #1 spot for most downloaded mobile app and the main Facebook app takes 2^nd place. Users spend an average of 58 minutes a day on FB and that user base consists of 35% under age 25 and 30% between 25 and 34.

Learn how therapists can build a Facebook following.

Best Time to Post on Instagram 

Instagram is a visual-based social media platform that was created for mobile device use. For this reason, most Instagram users tend to avoid using the app during regular work hours.

Peak times for user engagement are lunchtime, 11AM-1PM, and after-work hours, 5PM-7PM.

Wednesdays are the best day to post if you’re looking for clicks, favorites, or comments; but Mondays and Thursdays also tend to have fairly solid engagement rates.

This social platform boasts 1 billion monthly active users that spend an average of 30 minutes a day using the Instagram app. The user base tends to be younger than other social media platforms, with 64% of all users being between 18 and 34.

Learn how to set up an Instagram for your private practice.

Best Time to Post on Twitter

Twitter users are similar to Facebook users in that their time on the app seems to be scheduled around their daily work routine. Many of its users will check Twitter during their lunch breaks.

Peak time for user engagement is during the standard lunch hour of 12PM-1PM and around the 3PM afternoon breaktime.

Wednesdays and Thursdays are the best days to post if you’re looking for the most user engagement. Plus, Wednesdays have also been shown to generate the highest clickthrough rates and the greatest number of retweets of any other day of the week.

This social platform boasts 328 million monthly active users sending an average of 500 million tweets every day. The user base tends to be younger than other social media platforms, with average user being between 18 and 29.

Learn more about how therapists can use Twitter for marketing.

Best Time to Post on LinkedIn

Unlike other social media platforms, LinkedIn is a professional social network that is more commonly used by recruiters, sales people, and other business people. It is more tied into career and work culture than sheer entertainment, which is probably why 91% of marketing execs named LinkedIn as their top place to find quality content.

Peak times for user engagement are during lunch hours from 12PM-1PM and right after work at 5PM.

Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays are the best day to post if you’re looking for clicks, shares, or comments. Tuesdays in particular seem to generate the most clicks and shares on the network.

This social platform boasts 260 million monthly active users and, of those monthly users, 40% are accessing it on a daily basis.

Learn how therapists can use LinkedIn for marketing.

Best Time to Post on Pinterest

Pinterest is a visual-based social platform that is dominated by a female user base. Its users tend to interact with the app during their free time. Commonly used for things like finding new recipes, home organization hacks, business tips, and inspirational mantras; it’s often avoided during work hours as these things can lead to long periods of distraction.

Peak times for user engagement are later in the evening between the hours of 8PM-11PM.

Saturdays and Sundays are the best day to post if you’re looking for pins, favorites, or comments.

This social platform boasts 291 million monthly active users with a much larger average age for its audience than other social media platforms at 25 to 54. Unlike other platforms, the Pinterest user base is almost entirely made up of women at 79.5%. Considering 80% of the buying decisions in American households are made by women between the ages of 25-54, this is a pretty powerful demographic!

Learn why your private practice needs Pinterest.

Best Time to Post on Youtube

Though it originated as a simple video hosting platform for watching clips of laughing babies and cute puppies, YouTube has quickly become the most popular social media channel out there today.

Peak times for user engagement are in the early afternoon hours between 12PM-4PM.

Thursdays and Fridays are the best day to post for maximum user engagement.

This platform boasts 1.9 billion monthly active users – that’s half of the entire Internet -that watch a billion hours of video a day. YouTube just recently replaced Facebook as the second-most popular website in the world and the YouTube mobile app was the top iOS app of 2018.

Learn how you can use YouTube to grow your private practice.

About Wyatt Megla